The Lost Tape
by madamwolf
Summary: Based off an extra on the DVD called The Lost Tape. In the tape its shown Andy had a daughter. This is the whole situation from her eyes and what happens when she finds said tape in her fathers store?
1. The Flashback

**AN: READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN 'THE LOST TAPE':** Okay my first 'Dawn of the Dead' fic, this story, like I said in the summary is based off 'The Lost Tape' which for those of you who haven't seen it is a little extra on the DVD showing Andy's, I think it was about a month, of his life before he died. In the tape it showed that he had an ex-wife named Susan and an unnamed daughter, so I named her. Also part of the clips of his wife and daughter in the tape took place a year before the movie took place and his daughter looked about eight so I changed it to about three or four years back before the movie so his daughter could be old enough in my eyes to be doing what she's doing in the fic. If you really want to see the tape and you don't have access to the DVD go to youtube I know someone posted the video up, just look up 'the lost tape dawn of the dead' or something like that.

I do not own any of these characters or situations, aside from those you find unfamiliar. And all spelling mistakes are mine, my beta does not cover this sort of thing. I'm sorry if this isn't accurate to the movie and all but this is just my little thoughts bouncing around in my head, now, enough rambling lets get on with the fic!

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Samantha Raine walked through the abandoned streets of the town, so many dead bodies lay there, so much destruction. The smell of decay and rotting corpses almost brought tears to her eyes. You could hardly walk five feet without running into another body, some of the 'zombies' which people had named them, still twitched, and the ones who did she promptly shot in the head. Most were gone though they were trying to clean everything up, and start life again. 

Many would argue that she was far too young to be seeing this, to be doing this, she was only fifteen. But over the past couple years of this hell she learned to grow up extremely fast, everyone did. She considered herself already prepared though, her father was Andy Raine. She was his only daughter and only child, he never had a son, he divorced her mother when Samantha was only eight so Samantha had learned quickly how to shoot a gun. Her mother never liked this but her father had said it was a necessary ability in life. Samantha would never object either, her father collected guns, they were always around, it was only natural she would learn to like them.

She wandered through the remains of her old home, the fateful day the 'epidemic' spread she happen to be staying at her fathers that weekend. She was thirteen, he left for work to open up the store and all and she was left alone until three. He always closed up early when she was staying and everyone knew it, he loved her, she knew that and he wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. But he left early in the morning that day, said he had some business to attend to at the store.

She saw him last the day before it all happened, it was almost four o'clock, very early for her, but she woke up when the dog started barking so she went down to find out what was happening. She remembered all of it perfectly...

_Flashback_

"Dad...?" Samantha asked sleepily walking down the stairs of the cabin like home. "What are you doing up already? It's, like, four..." She yawned.

"I have to take care of a few things at the store, baby girl, I'm getting a new shipment in and they're coming early." Andy said turning around and bending down to her height. "What are you doing up?" He asked brushing some blond hair out of her eyes.

"I heard Nancy barking, I thought something was wrong."

"Naw, nothin's wrong, just me bein' a little clumsy and stepping on the dog."

Samantha smiled and laughed.

"Now go back to bed sweetheart, I'll be back early today since I'm opening early." Andy said.

She walked over and sat at the kitchen table. "No, daddy, you don't have to do that I'm thirteen, I'm old enough to take care of myself... besides I think I'll be asleep most the time your gone anyway." She said smirking.

Andy smiled and walked over to the table. "Alright, baby girl, now go back to sleep get some rest, I'll be back by three I promise, then we'll go out and see a movie or something, okay?"

"Alright." She said as her father came over and kissed her on the head. "I love you, daddy."

"I love you too, baby girl." He said smiling at her and picking up a few things off the table before walking out the front door and over to his truck.

She saw the headlights flicker on in the early morning and then pull out of the long driveway and over to civilization. One of the things she loved about her fathers house is it was away from a lot of people. She had a few neighbors up here, you could see their lights on through the trees at night, but they weren't close enough that you could see them clearly through the trees in the daytime.

Yawning again she walked over to the stairs and walked back up to her bedroom. The dog was following her; apparently she wanted a rest up there on her bed. She passed several heads mounted on the wall, her father was big on hunting, he promised to take her out on her fourteenth birthday. Walking into her room she collapsed on the bed and pulled the covers up around her, she closed her eyes and felt the lightweight hunting dog just up beside her. In minutes she was back to sleep.

Te entire day went by perfectly, just like he said he would be took her to the movies when he got home, he bought her a few things and even though, his ex-wife, Susan, said not to he took her to the shooting range simply because she begged him too. It was going to be their little secret. He took her back home and then went back out on his own, he told her he loved her and went out to meet a couple of his friends. She knew the number where she would reach him and all, he never left her without giving her one and making sure every single number from his cell phone to the dentist was left behind for her.

She fell asleep at around eleven and woke up to the phone ringing at around five o'clock in the morning. She moaned and complained as she sat up in bed, hoping they would just hang up. She remembered thinking to herself why she was getting woken up this early two days in a row. The person refused to hang up so she shuffled her way over to the phone in her fathers bedroom. Wait, dad, why didn't he pick up? She opened the door to find his bed empty, he must have let early again, or maybe that was him, maybe he had car trouble and was staying at his friends for the night or something.

She picked up the phone and cleared her throat. "Hello? Dad? What's going on? How come you're not home yet?"

He sounded tired and worried over the phone. "Listen, baby girl, I want you to lock all the doors, all the windows, get in the basement and lock that door." His basement was build like a bomb shelter, there was food and water supplies in there that would last you months in you rationed it.

"What? Daddy, why? What's going on?" She asked getting worried.

"There're riots or somethin' going on right now, they almost tipped my truck on my way home a couple hours ago. I'm at the store now, it was closer then home, but I want you to get in the basement now. When I come home I'll come down and get you, but get in there now." Andy said hastily still sounding worried.

"Um, o – okay, dad, I'll go down there now." She said hoping that her father wasn't just drunk and making things up. "I love you." She stuttered.

"I love you too."

"Bye." She said and she hung up the phone.

"Come on, Nan," she called to the dog, which proceeded to follow her around. In less then ten minutes she had all the doors and windows locked and she made her way down to the basement. She grabbed her cell phone off the charger in the kitchen before she went down, chances are her father would try to call her on her cell phone.

She locked the door in the basement and sat on the brown cot in the room. Reaching for the small TV she turned it on and flipped around, there was nothing but news. Finally she decided to stop and watch it, and she saw shocked her.

"Riots have been breaking out all through the area, we advise you to stay in your homes. These people are extremely dangerous the death count is just continuing to rise by the minute..."

Samantha never watched the rest she stopped listening and stood up to start pacing. "Oh my God," she said turning to face the dog, as if talking to her. "Dad was right; he wasn't drunk, oh my God. Death count!" She exclaimed. "Oh my God, mom," She said and flipped her cell phone open. "Gotta call mom."

She pushed her mothers speed dial and waited for the longest time for her mom to pick up the phone. It took some time, but finally the tired voice of her mom answered.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Mom? Are you okay?"

"Sam... What, what are you doing calling this early?" Susan asked.

"Have you watched the news yet?"

"Of course not... what –"

"Turn it on, now," Samantha ordered.

"What?"

"Now! Mom, now!"

"Okay, okay." She said and Samantha heard the bed move over the phone. She heard the TV click on and the news come over the phone. "Oh Lord..." She heard.

"Mom, you have to promise me that you'll be okay." Samantha said.

"I will, Sammy, I'll be fine, your father doesn't have you in that ridiculous basement of his does he?" Samantha was quiet for a couple seconds. "Oh, Lord, put him on I have to talk to him, probably blowing all this out of proportion."

"Um, mom, dad's not here, he's at the store, he called and told me to get in here. But I don't blame him, mom, look at everything, its all just going to hell."

"Samantha watch your mouth!" She scolded. "But, dear, I know its bad but don't be like him and exaggerate everything, okay? I'm sure it'll all be fine."

"Yeah," Samantha said and sat back down on the cot. "Yeah, it will be... Love you mom..."

"Love you too."

Samantha hung up the phone and pulled her knees up to her chest on the cot. This was going to be a long day.

Hours had passed until she got another call on her cell phone; it was now around eight in the morning. Checking the caller ID she saw it was her father and she picked up right away. "Daddy? Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, baby girl, yeah I'm fine, are you? Have you been watching the news?" He asked.

"Yeah, I have, dad I'm really getting scared." She said.

"I know, Sam, I know, just hang in there. I don't think I'll be gettin' home any time soon. But we have the phone, if you need me just call. I think we can just wait this thing out, I have plenty of water here, I have plenty of defenses here for myself. So do you, you know that. You have a couple guns down there right? And ammo?"

"I do, dad why...?"

"Don't ask, just, don't ask... make sure that it's out when you might need it. Don't ask me why, just please, don't ask me why." She heard him sigh over the phone. "Okay, don't open the door for anyone or anythin', okay?" he asked, she could tell he wasn't doing well.

"I won't," Samantha said and shifted in her seat. "You know I won't."

"I know." He sighed. "Have you called you mother?"

"Yeah, she said she's fine."

"I want you to call her again, make sure she gets to her roof or something, to a safe place." He may have hated his ex-wife more then anything, but he knew Samantha loved her and that meant he had to make sure Susan was alright.

"Okay, Daddy, I'll call when I get off the phone with you."

"Alright then, I'll let you go, remember, call me if you need anything and I mean _anything_, okay baby girl?"

"I will, dad, love you."

"Love you too... bye." He said and Samantha heard the phone click.

Samantha immediately closed her phone and then reopened it to call her mom, the phone rang but no one picked up. She tried this over and over and over again, but still nothing, she kept trying until she got nothing but a flat dial tone. She dropped her cell on the cot and pulled her legs up to her chest resting her face on her knees and cried. There was only one explanation, and she didn't want to face it, but it was the truth. Her mother was dead, the people outside must have got in and they killed her.

She never called her father to tell him, she knew that would only worry him further. She just stayed in the room, away from everyone and everything. Days past, it seemed like forever in her little solitude, she did leave, she knew she wasn't suppose to but she did leave. Her home seemed safe, she heard nothing but when she walked out to the door was when she got a little scared, she saw people wandering, not many but it wasn't their number that made her scared. It was what they looked like.

They were pale, like a bluish gray color pale, and they had blood just covering them, and the moans, the staggers, they looked dead, like walking corpses. As she watched these 'people' she heard screams coming from their neighbors, the 'people' immediately began running towards them making all sorts of horrible noises.

Samantha reacted quickly, she ran into the other room and unlocked the door with the set of keys her father left. She grabbed one of his 9mm guns and some bullets, she had been watching the news over the past couple days, she saw things she never had to see through her entire life.

Going to the back door she loaded the gun the way her father had shown her and watched as the people headed to her neighbors, more screams were heard and she watched as her neighbor ran out of her house screaming with her big brother close behind, he must have been visiting from college, poor guy. They were covered in blood and for a moment Sam wondered where their parents were before she stepped outside.

"Come on!" She yelled to them and they saw her running faster. She noticed that the 'people' were gaining on them and she aimed the gun almost holding her breath and praying that she didn't miss. She squeezed the trigger and the gun rang out, she looked out and saw that she hit the closest one in the chest making him fall. But this only slowed him a little he got back up and starting running again.

The head.

That echoed in her mind, she remembered seeing something on the news, he head killed them. She tried again and missed again, hitting him in the shoulder, she wasn't nearly as good a shot as her father yet.

"Hurry up!" She yelled to them and they reached the house. Ushering them inside Samantha closed the door and locked it with the many locked around it. No more then five seconds later a bang was heard on the door making them all back up.

"Follow me." Samantha said and she ran back to the room, grabbing a few rifles, some bullets and some more hand guns out of the cabinet. "Hold these." She said hastily to her neighbors who took them without question.

More banging was heard from other parts of the house and she looked around, not seeing them she grabbed one more box of bullets and jogged over to the basement door. "Get in, hurry." She said to them and she followed suit putting her weapons down as well she went back to the door bolting it shut. The many locks were in place. No one could get through this thing.

Turning to the two of them she kneeled down to where they were sitting on the cot. "Are you guys okay?" She asked her voice shaking.

"Yeah, yeah, we're fine." Lauren replied, a fifteen year old girl with short brown hair and brown eyes.

"Wh – who's... Who's blood is this?" Samantha asked looking at the crimson red shirts and jeans.

"Our parents." Jake replied, he was nineteen with similar hair color to his sister and blue eyes, like his mother. "Those _things_ got in, we tried to board everything up but it's like... it's like they don't sleep or get tired or anything, man! The just kept trying, they got in, me and Lar, were in another room we heard them screaming we came in and their throats were ripped... ripped out..." Jake said as he began to break down into tears. "Tried to stop it, but those things came after us... I hit one with the flower pot in the head, sent him down. We went to see our parents but... the blood... the blood was everywhere... we couldn't stop it... they came after us... we ran..." He said and then he put his face in his hands unable to speak anymore.

Lauren put her arms around her brother as she began to cry too. Samantha watched this, remembering her mother and she began to sob quietly too.

She didn't know how much time had passed, but she knew she heard the familiar ringing of her phone. She sniffed and wiped her eyes off, gaining her composure she picked it up and answered. "Hi, Dad." She said still a little shaky.

"Just checking in, are you okay over there? You sound a little shaken." Andy said.

"Yeah, um, dad I left and I know – "

"You left! Why!? I told you not to you have to stay in there and don't come out!"

"Dad, Dad, I know, I know, it's just I was curious and going crazy in here. But when I left its Jake and Lauren, they're in here now... their parents aren't..." She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence but her father seemed to understand.

"Okay, baby girl, just don't leave again."

"Oh trust me, Daddy, I won't I won't ever again, I swear."

"Alright, you have enough ammunition?"

"I have plenty, when I left I made sure to grab some more. I'll be fine, Daddy, I will." Samantha said.

"How's your food and water?"

"Fine, we have enough in here to last a little over a month." She said walking around to the food and water supply checking it out. "And I'm sure if we needed to ration, which we will, we could last longer."

"Good... is Nan still in there with you?"

"Yeah, and we have the whole big bag of dog food, she'll be fine for a long while."

"Have you called your mother since last time?"

Samantha paused for a moment. "Yeah, just a little while ago, she's fine too." She lied through her teeth.

"Okay, just making sure. I'll check up again in a few hours. Love you."

"I love you too." She said and hung up her phone.

"Where is your father?" Jake asked.

"At his store, he was headed home but he was attacked, he fine though he just went there because it was closer." Sam explained.

"Oh..." Jake said and sat back on the cot. Samantha joined him and for the rest of the day they simply sat there and watched the news and the few shows that were still playing.

She got three more calls form her father over the course of the day, she never went back outside but if you listened closely you could hear the angered cries and moans from the creatures outside. It was hard to sleep with all the noise, now that they knew they were in there.

She stopped getting calls from her father after about a week. She tried calling him but nothing, his phone must have died. She tried the store but the power must have been down, and a couple days later her phone died as well. The only reason they had some power in the basement was because they had a back up generator there. But when the calls stopped she got worried, her father was all she had left, a part of her mind told her that her dad was hard as nails, invincible, but then another part told her to assume the worst.

Jake and Lauren kept assuring her he would be fine, that it took more then this too take out her father but she still had doubts. More weeks past, there was only one news station left, the rest were gone. They didn't know why this one particular one was left but it was horrible to watch. They showed maps of the world and of the United States of where the 'epidemic' spread and it was everywhere. Only small parts of the U.S. were still safe and it was only a matter of hours before they were covered in red too.

They began running out of food on month two, but you could last twenty eight days without food and they had plenty of water. So Samantha figured they would be safe. But it wasn't until another couple weeks had passed that she realized they needed food, their rationing wasn't working, and they needed it now. They were all weak and getting too thin.

She went out with Jake leaving Lauren in the basement entrance to make sure none came in the kitchen, and to make sure Nan didn't run out and attract attention; you could see the kitchen clearly from the basement door. She gave her a rifle with a scope so if she needed to she could shot long distance and a hand gun for quick firing. Hopefully she wouldn't have to use either. She and Jake both got two hands guns each, she taught him how to reload and shoot. He was a hunter but all he had ever used was a hunting rifle.

Upon hearing nothing outside they slowly opened the door, and they were right, from their line of vision they could hear nothing and could see nothing. But that was always limited from where they were. Slowly they snuck out keeping their guns ready to fire and walked up the stairs to the kitchen. Jake was to go first, he looked around and waved her through she lightly ran and grabbed a black garbage bag. She knew any food in the refrigerator was long spoiled by now so she didn't even bother; she just went to the cabinet and began shoving food in the bag. Jake was now behind her watching her back as she worked.

They heard a gun shot from the rifle.

"Hurry!" They heard Lauren yell from the basement stairs with the dog barking behind her. "I can see them coming!"

Samantha took a couple jugs of water and put them in the bag. It was heavy so Jake took it before she had a chance to sling it over her shoulder. They started to get back down only to hear the sound of something breaking form behind them.

Samantha yelled as she saw them getting so close and fired her gun several times. "Dammit." She said as she missed the head. "Remember hit them in the head!" She yelled.

More shots from the basement were heard and the two scrambled to get back down their, they fired off a few more rounds as they did. They were now coming faster and were very close. Samantha found herself screaming without her even realizing when she started but she began open firing upon the monsters, hitting several in the head.

"Sam, come on, come on! Get in!" She heard Jake yell form behind her, he made it in but while she stood firing she somehow forgot to back up. She took advantage of a few more and then just turned and ran, she jumped down the lat several stairs and Jake closed the door on one of the creatures hands.

"Shoot it! Shoot it!" Lauren screamed as Samantha picked up the gun and shot it in the hand several times.

The hand was withdrawn, or what was left of the hand. Sam fell back onto the floor and began breathing hard. James at down beside her and Lauren next to him.

"So... you got the cookies?" Lauren asked and Sam grinned at her and laughed slightly.

"Yeah, I got them."

More weeks had gone by, it was even worse, the hunger was getting unbearable. They were once again out of food, and they were running out of everything and going insane in the basement. The generator went out long ago, they out played every single board game and non board game. It was just death in there now.

Their water was even running low, it would only last another week or so. They really didn't know how much longer they could last like this. But as the time went on the more silent they were and the more they just sat there in the room without speaking.

One morning, or they assumed it was morning, they had no sense of time anymore Jake sat up from where he sat and listened. "Hey..." He said in a quiet voice. "You hear that?"

The two girls shook their heads.

"Just listen,"

"Jake, we don't hear anything." Lauren said sleepily getting up.

He walked to the door and slowly started opening it.

"Jake! What are you doing? No..." Sam said and then she heard it. Voices, and it wasn't the moans and groans of the 'zombies' but actual voices and people talking. A couple gun shots were heard and the sound of falling bodies.

"It's people." Samantha said and grabbing the gun near the door she ran outside with Jake and Lauren close behind her.

"Hello!" Jake yelled and they went up the stairs the dog barking quietly and jumping on its back legs behind them, "is anyone there!?" He yelled louder.

They heard the footsteps running to the back of the house where they were and they went further up the stairs. They entered the kitchen just as a group of men and women in military uniforms arrived in the room. They had their weapons drawn at the three, who immediately put their hands up.

"Did any of you get bitten?" One man asked slowly approaching them.

"No." Jake said standing in front of the two younger girls.

"Are you positive? Whose blood is that?" He asked gesturing the bloodied clothes Jake and Lauren wore.

"Our parents." Jake said in a shaky voice.

"Alright." The man said and lowered his weapon motioning for everyone to do the same.

"Is it all over?" Sam asked as the informed people helped them up and began walking out of the house.

"Far from." The man replied. "We killed all those sons of bitches up here but there's still some wandering around the town. We're trying to find survivors. So far you're the only ones we found for a few miles."

"Did you um... did you find anyone in Andy's Gun Works?" Sam said in a quiet voice.

The man turned around and asked a few of the soldiers behind him. "We went in, but the place had a couple of the bastards in it. So we didn't look around, just killed them."

Letting out a strangled cry she covered her face as the tears began to fall once again. He was defiantly dead then, unless he got out before... no... She shouldn't be holding onto false hope like she had been for the past months. He was dead there was no getting around it.

Jake took her in his arms and she cried into his chest. "Her father." He mouthed to the man and he nodded.

"Come on, we'll get you to the car and then drive you to the safe house. There are other survivors there." He said and took them all away.

_End Flashback_

Samantha continued to walk down the road with Jake, now twenty one, and Lauren, now seventeen, and a few of her other new friends who survived. They arrived at the mall, it was trashed, but then again what wasn't trashed in this place.

Then a thought dawned upon Samantha, his store. It was near the mall. She looked and sure enough there it was. Across the street and a hundred yards or so down the road there it was. Andy's Gun Works.

Sam bolted she didn't tell anyone where she was going but she heard her friends from behind her yell her name and tell her to come back. Her breathing became harder and strangled as she fought back tears. Upon reaching the door she tried to open it only to find that it opened without her even turning the knob. Looking at it she realized the door had been shot open, from the military when they came by those years ago.

Pushing it open she walked in, so many memories were in this store. Looking around she noticed that a lot of the hand guns were missing and the glass counter was broken. Looking behind it she saw a small table and a few things on top of it. One was a picture frame, it was tipped over. She walked behind the counter and slowly tipped the picture up just as all her friends came in behind her.

It was a picture of her and her father out on the lake near his house. She must have been ten in the picture; it was so many years ago. She slowly took the back off the picture and slid the photograph out. Putting the picture frame back down she walked out completely ignoring the words her friends were saying to her. Walking up the stairs she explored her fathers store a little further, taking one corner she stopped short and back up against the wall.

"Shit!" She yelled and shut her eyes. The smell of the decaying flesh was terrible. She would never get this image out of her head; she saw her father or what was left of him. He was pretty much just a decaying corpse now, missing a head too. But she knew it was him. She just knew.

Jake was up there with her first and he lead her out of the room with her eyes still closed.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God." She said to herself as he bought her into the next room. She was crying once again and Jake sat down next to her. He had expected to wait for some time before she was ready to stand up again, but to his surprise she stood up after only several seconds. Looking at the picture in her hand she walked on.

Another room sat his computer and the couch, TV, it was the room he had once lived it when mom got the house in the divorce. The house he had lived in before he had only bought a year prior to the incident. She saw the fish tank and she moaned. Ariel, that stupid fish she got him when she was a little kid. She was surprised it was still alive at the time.

That's when she saw the video camera. She furrowed her brow it looked like it was pointing to something like he was taping. She walked over to it and bit her lip, turning the button on the little light flickered and she pushed the rewind button for just a couple seconds the battery would not last long at all. Then she pressed play.

"Hey... this dog got a name...?" That was all that played before the screen went blank once again. But it said a whole lot more, there was blood smeared on the lens, on his face, everywhere and there was a dog barking in the background. She sniffed and suppressed a cry as she took the camera with her and began exploring the store more.

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**AN:** Gonna tell you now that the next chapter will not be this long, hell it'll probably be about half this length if that. The only reason this was so long was because of the flashback that was only supposed to be about three pages. Yeah, that worked out. Hopefully I'll get another chapter up by Tuesday because I'll be going away that week, off to boot camp, oh yay! Shame you can't hear my sarcasm, but no I wanted to go. Anyway review and I'll try to get another chapter up quick! 


	2. The Tape

**AN:** I own nothing except the things you find unfamiliar and all mistakes are mine.

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Cradling the old video camera in her arms Samantha walked through the store a little longer. She found the stairs and wandered up them to the roof, what she found she just had to smile at. An old chess board was sitting on the ground near a lawn chair with a couple of empty jugs that she assumed once contained water. The chess board was missing a few pieces and some were broken but she could tell he was using his old strategy. The one he had always used on her on countless occasions, she never lost to anyone but him.

Near that was a white board, she knew something was missing from the front of the store and here it was. Her father used the white board to write down the days he was open and the hours. But on the board there was blood smeared on it with the markers completely ignored next to it. She put her hand over her mouth and walked away but as she passed the chess board she grabbed the King off it and shoved it in her pocket.

Walking back out the door she walked down the stairs and avoided the room where she found her father. Walking quickly out the front door with her friends on her heals she hurried down the road in the opposite direction of where she was headed.

"Sam! Sammy, where are you going?" Jake asked following her.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine, you go, just go I'll be fine." She said waving her hand behind her and trying to push him away.

"Sam, I know that must have been hard but –" Jake was never able to finish his sentence as Samantha turned back around and faced him, the camera still clutched protectively in her arms.

"Look, I'm fine, I've seen worse over the years, trust me I have. Now let me just go back home and I just have to take care of a few things, you know? Okay, so leave me alone for a few hours and I'll be fine, just trust me." She said as she started to back up again and walked away with a quick pace.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Lauren asked walking up behind her brother and looking up at him after watching Sam walk away.

"I hope." Jake sighed and put his arm around Lauren leading her away as they walked back down the road.

Samantha walked back down to the large building that that had converted into a home for the survivors over the years. She reached the door and punched in a security code and the door unlocked. Since the epidemic they decided that if it ever happened again they would be ready and they were, in the safe house there was enough food to last months and months for many people and food for the domesticated animals they saved and some, in Samantha's opinion, amazing weaponry.

She walked through pushing various people out of her way and made it up to the room she shared with Lauren and four other girls, ages ranging from fifteen to twenty five, Rachel, Carla, Diana and Christine. It was a small room, equipped with two bunk beds and two regular ones, it had a dresser with a mirror and a closet along with one TV on the wall so if you sat on any bed you had a clear view of it.

She locked the door and then went through a plastic bag near the TV which held wires and cords that plugged into the TV for various items. Finding one that fit she picked it up and proceeded to plug the camera into the TV. She turned it on and rewound it all the way, keeping her eyes closed until she heard the noise that signaled that it had finished. Opening them she took a deep breath and pressed the play button.

The first image that came up was an old one, he must not have rewound it all the way when he began. She recognized this scene and remembered it clearly. It was one of the last times they went to the park as a family, her parents got divorced only a couple months later. You could tell her mother was agitated anyway, getting frustrated at her father simply because he was filming their day at the park.

But then the image changed and it showed her father turning on the camera and sitting down, he looked excited and kind of happy all at once, she looked at the time and date in the corner, this was just an hour or so after he called her to see of she was alright those years ago.

"I gotta have a record for this for when I write the book."

Samantha took a deep breath not allowing herself to cry. The book, there would be no book now. He never got the chance to write anything now. She blinked hard and continued to watch the screen.

She heard the familiar story of him coming home late at night a little on the drunken side. It was not the first time it had happened, and she never liked it and she assumed it was one of the reasons her mother left him. Then the alarm went off in his store, she knew that alarm it was pretty sensitive and can admit she set it off a few times.

"They, like, attacked the car, ya know, they're trying to turn it over!"

She remembered him telling her this story over the phone. Except not quite this excited about it all, when he told it to her he sounded scared. Bu she continued to watch, it was like reliving it all over again. He said he had to reinforce it, she assumed he meant the door and then the screen went blank. It came back on a second later, looking at the time it was almost twelve hours later. He walked over and sat on the couch.

"Stupid couch..." She murmured as she watched him walk over to it. "Was never comfortable..."

She smiled as he put the gun down, she couldn't tell what kind it was from the resolution she had, the lighting, and just because it was sitting on it side, she didn't have the best view of it. He began saying perimeter secure, and she laughed a little. Just like him to treat this like World War III and use his entire military lingo. But then again, it wasn't that far from a World War.

"We can go twenty eight days without food."

She thought back to thinking about her own food supply when she was trapped in the bomb shelter. She remembered saying the exact same thing, she really was his daughter.

Then he started talking to something and she furrowed her brow, he was talking to it like a cat or dog or something. He had no pets, none that she could think of... maybe he got one and didn't tell her. But why wouldn't he say anything? He knew she loved having pets if he got a dog or something he would tell her... Wait a minute; was he talking to the fish...?

"Anybody wanna crash this dinner party they're gonna get some copper coated candy for dessert, right?"

Samantha couldn't help but laugh out loud, that was something he would say that she found to be amazing. And it truly helped that when he said that he was wielding one of her favorite guns.

There was a pause and he was silent, and the smile on her face faded. She could tell he was really scared, he may have been trying to hide it but he was her father. She knew him, and she knew when he was covering up his feelings. She sighed, "Typical male..." She said as he walked up and shut the camera off again.

It came back on again, it was dark, he was by the computer he kept in his store.

"Phones not working..."

"I knew it!" She exclaimed, she knew those times he was calling her it must have been from his cell phone.

He started talking about the map of the world, she had seen that map dozens of times. Every few hours the red spots would just get bigger and bigger and bigger. In some spots in the U.S. in the North West it was completely safe, there was no red anywhere near them, but six hours later it could be one of the most highly infected spots of the map. It wasn't safe anywhere.

"Some people are sayin', ya know, that these crazies out there are, they're really dead. Their just, like, corpses up walkin' around, now I know that's bull shit."

She put her head down, if he only knew how wrong he was. They were dead; they were just corpses up walking around. It wasn't bull shit, maybe in the beginning the thought of it was bull shit but not anymore, now it was completely accepted among everyone. These things were defiantly dead.

He started talking to the assumed fish again, telling it just to wait it out. She had waited it out and look at her, she survived. She, Jake, Lauren, all of them survived just waiting it out. It was a good theory but hard to put into action, in her months of isolation she knew just how hard that could get. Waiting it out, if only he could have waited it out a little longer... she didn't know how the 'zombies' had gotten in the store, maybe he figured it would be better to try and get out rather then starving to death... she didn't know. But she knew when she found him his head was blown clean off, which only mean one thing, he had been turned into one of them before he died.

A couple seconds later the screen was off again and it came back up in total darkness except for one beam of light form a flashlight. Power must have been totally out now.

"Okay, it's hard to freakin' sleep with the damn moans; I mean it's not scary, seriously, it's just a pain in the ass."

She smiled; she knew exactly what he was talking about. She remembered countless times when they were outside the door and she could hear they banging on it and moaning and groaning. She actually remembered calling him a few times in those nights being scared and having him have to calm her down.

In this scene she saw the glowing fish tank behind him and say he was going to keep the light one. "Oh my God..." She said and rubbed her head. "He is talking to the freakin' fish..." She watched him yawn and then turn the camera and flashlight off once again.

The next time the camera went on it showed her, at eight years old playing jump rope for a few seconds. It was like a dagger went in her chest as the memories of their once happy family flooded back, but lucky for her it didn't last long. She was soon back to the horror movie she lived in.

He started talking about how he tried to kill them, she listened to all the ways and was shaking her head waiting for the time he said to shot them in the head. When he said it she nodded and smiled, and they she laughed when he called them a wet bag of shit. "That wasn't entirely necessary, daddy." Se laughed.

He started writing out the math and she shook her head again. "Math never was your strong suite don't even try it." She said and laughed when he gave up after two seconds.

The camera went off again and turned back on, he was taking about shooting them all. She knew trying to kill them off one by one was pointless. They just kept coming, taking them all out one by one did nothing, it was like trying to dent a car but a baby's binkie, it just didn't work.

"Oh no... daddy, you're going to blow your self up." She said when she saw the gasoline and the glass bottle. "Please do not try that."

He came back when the camera was turned back on looking depressed and his face was covered in soot. "Told you," she said grabbing the pillow off her bed and becoming more comfortable.

She sighed when he was calling the fish baby girl that was his nickname for her. In some weird way did the fish symbolize her to him...? Her father was crazy, she concluded and continued to watch.

"There're people in the mall across the street."

She sat up more upon hearing this, more people; there was no one in there when they explored it before. There were signs of people once being there but no one now. Why did they try and leave!? She screamed in her head.

But through her frustration with this her anger melted away when she saw him smile. He looked so happy, like this was his break of getting the hell out of that place.

"We're gonna get rescued and it's all gonna be fine."

She looked down as a tear escaped her eye, no it wouldn't be. If everything was fie she would be with her dad right now. They would be in his house not worried about undead freaks walking though the door but about when the next time they could sneak to the shooting range would be. It was not fine, nothing was going to be fine.

"I totally get why they didn't come today."

They would never come, she knew they didn't if they did he would be alive. But as she looked at him he was so optimistic, so sure that they wouldn't abandon them here to die. So sure of the goodness of people and doing the right thing. Yeah, over the past few years she realized some people have pure and good hearts but other only care for themselves and can just say 'fuck you, I only look out for number one, me.' Some people can be real ass holes, and she guessed that kind of people was the kind of person operating the helicopter.

He was making up so many excuses of why they didn't stop, of why they would just come back later. But she knew the truth and she knew that he knew it too he just refused to believe it.

"I'll be fine." He said but she had to rewind it a bit and turn up the volume to listen a little harder to hear that's second part.

"I'll be fine... I think..."

He wasn't sure; he was having doubts of his survival. Doubts of them coming back and she whipped her eyes when the camera shut off.

"There's no help comin'."

She remembered receiving the news that the Fort was gone. She remembered thinking that they were on their own and that they was no help. We survive... it is what we do we're the greatest predator in the world. No dumb ass undead freaks are going to stop us and they didn't! She screamed in her mind as he talked. But with their survival came great sacrifices and great loss and her father was only one of the millions of deaths. He was just another number, but not to her, to her if he survived her whole world would be a thousand times better. But, she guessed, that was how everyone felt about their loved ones who died.

After his rant that boosted her energy about life up the camera turned off and they were back to that day in the park. She had her big red ball he father just had to buy for her. Her mother was in her lawn chair just reading a book, not paying a bit of attention to her. She loved her mother but at times she thought that maybe her mother didn't love her as much as she thought she did. Her father though was filming this, he wanted a film record of just her playing with a big red ball. He loved her, and she never doubted it.

The flashback clip went away and she went back to reality. He was in the bathroom laughing and talking about how they were shooting celebrity look a likes. Now that had to be fun, just shooting people who you hated just for fun knowing that they were already dead so you wouldn't destroy yourself with guilt.

"Oh Burt Reynolds I have to waste Burt Reynolds."

She laughed when she heard that that really must have hit him close to home. Her father loved Burt Reynolds, and she had to admit he was great. Ad then he talked about shooting him gym teacher and she laughed harder, she couldn't say how much she wanted to shoot some of her teachers at times. And she did actually she found her old math teacher twitching in the parking lot a week ago and she nailed her in the head. That was satisfying.

"God I wish Susan was out there... no... no..."

Samantha's face softened, her mother, her mother was already dead and could very possibly have been one of them. Then he began talking about how her mother took everything from him and she did, she never really agreed on how it all went. Her mother got everything and all he got was his store, which was already his, he had to live there, buy a new house, buy a new car, everything.

"No, not nothin' I got her... I got my baby girl..."

She wasn't quite sure if she meant her or the fish, maybe both, he did get the fish but he also got visitation rights. She was over there a lot, and loved it over thre more then loved it over her mother's house.

For a little while she was in the dark on what was happening, what exactly he was talking about. But then it hit her like a bullet through the head. He was talking about her, praying that she was okay, that she was still up in the cabin by the lake waiting for him to come home.

"I am okay, daddy, I'm fine, I'm here." She said as she started to cry again and used her sleeve to clear the tears from her cheeks. It was true if she caused to much trouble for her mom she would get left at her grandparent's house for a day or so, her mother did do that. But never her father, she had always wished that he had got full custody, but that was the hard truth of the courts these days. They favored the mother over the father even if the father was the better parent.

The camera turned off again and when it came back on she closed her eyes and looked away. He was drunk. Not even a little tipsy like she saw him with friends or his brothers but sloppy drunk. She had never seen this but she heard horror stories form her mother about it, or funny stories from her uncles depending on who you talk too. But he was drunk.

She forced herself to raise her head and continue watching the screen, she couldn't blame him for being drunk like this, it was hard. He was probably depressed and thought she was dead by now. There he went talking about how the government started it all, about how it was all started in some secret lab. She winced at the vulgar language he used, never had she heard him use an F bomb this often, he usually tried to resist using it in front of her.

Luckily it didn't last long and the picture changed again to herself, running to the big twisty slide. Her long hair trailing behind her, those were the good days the fun days... but it quickly changed.

The next shot was not a pleasant one either. He was probably still drunk, asking God, blaming God, whichever you preferred about all that's been happening. And she couldn't deny she did it too. She had committed her fair share of blasphemy over the past couple years. But what he did made her cover her face and just wait for it to be over. He stuck his hand in the tank and killed the fish. She didn't see it happen, but she knew it did, he just went crazy, but could you really blame him?

She opened her eyes again when the screen changed and he started talking with some sense again, and she couldn't be more thankful. All he did here was talk about the power being out everywhere, this was probably when she lost her power at home too. She couldn't match up the dates because she had no calendar in the bomb shelter so she had little to no sense of time down there. He was talking about conserving energy so this clip only lasted a few seconds before it was turned off and the next one showed daylight once again.

"I'm tryin' to break out, I'm finally getting' outta here. I ju – I just hope they send a sandwich or lobster or anything like that –"

He was going to get out, this must be close to his death when he finally couldn't take it and just went crazy and wanted to get out. Sam watched as something made him stop talking and walk away from the camera view for a couple seconds until he came back and shut the camera off and saying "battery".

Another old clip was shown of her going down a slide, barefoot and having fun, not anymore.

She gasped when she saw the next one. A bloodied hand went across the screen and she stole a glimpse to the camera at the dried bloody smudge still on the lens. This was it, this was his death. She was going to watch her dad die and she had it on tape!

"But a couple of the dumb fucks got in with it."

She couldn't imagine the pain he was feeling she saw how people got bit they ripped you open, to get away was like taking a chunk out of your neck, or arm or leg or wherever. She couldn't stand seeing him I this much pain for much longer and just prayed it was going to go away.

Then the walkie talkie went off next to him.

"Andy, can you hear me?"

It must have been the people in the mall across the street. They were trying to help, trying to get him out. She vaguely wondered if they survived or not. If they did she only knew one name, Kenneth and the chances of finding one man named Kenneth that she had no idea of who he was or what he looked like was slim.

"They almost got me, I'm banged up pretty good but I think I'm gonna be okay."

"No... no you're not..." Samantha said sadly as tears welled up in her eyes, she knew once you were bit you had no chance. There were only a couple cases of people surviving bits and the only way they survived was their limb that was being attack was amputated while the monster was still biting them. There was no chance of her dad living now.

"Yeah, you just hang in there... you got the food right?"

She could tell the man who apparently was Kenneth knew that once you were bitten you were history. He sounded sad, he and her father must have become pretty good friends while they were stuck there. She moaned and rubbed her eyes a little bit more, she hadn't cried this much for a while and she didn't want to start again.

She saw that they stopped responding to him and he lowered the walkie and looked up to the camera.

"I'm not gonna tell him how bad it is, I mean why worry him... I just gotta rest for a bit... its... it's gonna be okay... it's all gonna be alright... ya hear that baby girl?"

He could hardly talk anymore, he was slipping and she knew it, soon she would see her father as one of those creatures. One of those monsters that terrorized the world. He was dying and now she couldn't stop crying no matter how much she tried.

There was a big crash and the camera shook, a couple seconds later she saw him move again and look around with a new life in him. If that's what you called a life, he looked dazed and like he was staring at something far off, he looked like an animal.

"June 6, 2004 at 6:23 P.M." She sniffed looking at the date. "That's the time my father died..." She struggled to get out as she watched him make a growling noise, get up and run out of the room.

The cried as their was white noise until another picture came up and she forced herself to look at it. She smiled slightly and covered her mouth, she remembered him taping this... that stupid fish...

"Here you go daddy."

"Aww, she's beautiful, baby girl, what's her name?"

"Ariel, like the mermaid."

"Oh, like the mermaid, that's right!"

"Happy birthday, daddy, I love you."

"I love you too, baby girl."

Samantha watched as she ran of to go play some more. Her tears kept coming and she cried them all out for the longest time until they would come no more. Walking forward t the now blue screen she took the tape out and placed it in a safe spot near her bed. Then there was a knock at her door she walked over and answered it.

"Sam, are you okay? It's been hours." Jake said on the other side. She looked up at the clock, it really had been, the tape couldn't have been more then fifteen minutes but was she really crying that long.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Come on, I'm gonna need your help."

"With what?" he asked and followed her down the hall.

"I'm going back to his store; I need to look around some more."

"Sam I don't think –"

"I'm not going to argue with you, I'm going back to his store I have to look around. You can't change my mind."

He nodded. "Alright... lets go, Lauren's at the mall still... we can get her too. I don't want you going alone; even with me... it's not enough."

Samantha nodded even though she wasn't really paying attention, just soe words her father had said still echoed in her mind.

"I gotta have a record for this for when I write the book."

"When I write the book."

The book... Samantha thought and she put her hand in her pocket and felt the King from the chess board.

* * *

**AN: **Okay yeah screw what I say anymore apparently this chapter was long too, but that's good I guess. I hope I didn't disappoint anyone, I was working on this chapter for hours straight, I really got into it and I was watching the tape while writing it pausing it every five seconds for the quotes and all the specific stuff. BY the way, does anyone get this one thing it bugs me, in the tape when Andy gets up he's all zombied out, but if he's all zombied out how does he go to the roof and out blood all over the white board like it shows in the movie was that a mistake they made or am I missing something? Can someone please explain it to me if they get it? Thanks, and also thanks for the reviews, they were awesome.

On a side note, like I said I was going to SLS (summer leadership school, or boot camp whichever you prefer to call it), it was awesome I made a lot of new friends and it was just all around amazing. I have a real fun time.

Review guys and I'll see ya next time!


	3. The Interview

Samantha sat in a comfortable chair, seven years later, she was twenty two. It was almost ten years after the epidemic, everything was starting to get rebuilt. Towns were forming, people were starting to get back to normal lives, normal jobs, of course there were no real cities. Many towns had a small population and were very spread apart, some only a population of a fifty.

Samantha lived in one of the larger towns, with almost three hundred and fifty people. The school only had about fifty to a hundred students. There weren't many children who survived and all the kids in their teens or pre teens were now adults. It was almost like they had gone back in time, Samantha had often joked life was like a western now. Everyone had some sort of handgun on them, they did a lot more manual work rather then depending machines, since the populations were so low they didn't have repair men for everything if it broke down. They didn't have people running the factories or people working in them, cars were used less since the dealerships went downhill. Animals were still in bulk since the infected people never went after animals, they were used more.

She lived in a nice two story house with a girl she took in a few years ago when they still lived at the shelter. Her parents and all relatives were killed. She was fourteen now and going to school, it was almost normal.

But today wasn't normal, not in the sense zombies were attacking again but she was in a large chair on a stage sitting with a talk show host who was holding a book. The hostesses name was Jane, she as one of the newer celebrities when movies and TV started coming back on.

"Welcome back everyone, our next guest on the show is the young Samantha Raine, author of the amazing and compelling book, 'The Lost Tale'." Jane said with a large smile on her face as she held up a hard cover fairly thick book with a dark cover. "Welcome to the show Samantha."

"Oh please, call me Sam, everyone else does." Samantha said nervously looking at the large audience; this was her first time on television.

"Alright then, Sam, lets talk about this book you wrote, a lot of people have tried to write books on their experiences and they're all the same so cliché, but yours was one of the few that because a best seller. Could you tell us why you think that is?"

"Well, a lot of people wrote like you said cliché on their experiences and where they hid and it's all kind of dull I guess, but I didn't write about me."

"And who did you write about exactly?" Jane asked.

"My father, Andy Raine, he owned the gun store back at my old town." Samantha relied, she was able to talk about him freely now, she hadn't cried heavily about it in years.

"Why did you choose to write about him?" Jane asked. "Not to open old wounds."

"Well about five... six... I guess it was about seven years ago or so me and some of my friends were walking through my old town, just looking around and we came across my dad's store. Um, I went in looked around and I found this tape he made on the table." She left out about her finding his body, no one needed to hear that. "I went back home, played it and watched it, I cried I laughed and I just got a little pissed but in the very beginning his exact words were 'I gotta have a record for this for when I write the book' I I guess I just thought I should live up to it. I'm his only heir, the only survivor in my family."

"That's amazing, so did you mention yourself in the book at all or is it just..." She trailed off allowing her to answer.

"Well I did kind of did, he did talk about me a little in the tape." Sam said.

"So, how long did it take you to write this book? And what process did you take?"

"I um, I started the book just a few days after I found the tape, and after I found it I went back and did so much research in there on things he wrote down that didn't make the tape. Because he wrote down a lot, about half way though the tape he mentions going low on batteries so I guess he started writing, but he talks about the people in the mall across the street and what he does all day and the games he played with a man named Kenneth."

"What kinda games?" Asked Jane with a small smile.

"Well there was one where they would point out someone who looked like a celebrity in the crowd of zombies below." She air quoted zombies. "And they'd shoot them in the head. I would have loved to play that game with my dad he was an amazing shot."

"Did you get any of that? I mean do you like guns and stuff." Jane asked.

"Oh yeah I love my guns, I inherited my dad's store actually, but since what happened like everything else it was shut down I just got all the guns, they're all in my house." Samantha smiled and laughed slightly.

"Wow, burglars be warned, what about your shot? How good are you? Like, if I had a can on a post somewhere could you hit it?"

"No doubt in my mind I could defiantly hit it."

"That's amazing, I wish I could do that, but I hate to say that my shot has probably gotten worse since it all." Jane said making them laugh. "So back to the original question, what else did you do while writing this book?"

"Well I looked around for survivors from the mall. My dad had their names, but he only had a real friendship with Kenneth. I looked them up in the database of survivors." The database of survivors was a list posted on the internet of all the survivors of the incident. It was a quick and easy way to check for family and friends. "I only found two names. Nicole and Terry, real nice people, but I asked them about how they got out what they went through; if they knew my dad before he died. And actually Nicole was over at his store when he got infected, so I got to talk to her about that for a while."

"So he did die from getting infected?" Jane asked.

"Yes, and Kenneth shot him in the head pretty quick afterwards. He wasn't like that long thank God because I know he would shoot himself before that happened, which leads me to believe that he didn't know a bite caused you to become one."

"I can't imagine many people who would want that to happen." Jane said and then continued with the interview. "I'm afraid we have to take a break now but when we come back more on this fascinating woman and her book, 'The Lost Tale'."

Samantha saw the little green light on the camera turn off and Jane sighed and leaned back in her chair. "I hope this isn't getting to personal for you." She said in a soft voice unlike the hyper happy one she used when they were on the air. "I know how hard it can get."

"No, its fine, it was hard for a while but I think I'm good now." Sam said.

"That's good..." Jane said. "So, how did you get survive anyway?"

"Um, I was at my father's house for the weekend and he had this bomb shelter in his basement. Me and my dog went down there, God rest her soul she died a couple years back. We just hung out in there with my neighbors for months until the military finally came and took us to the safe house."

"Sorry to cut you short but were going back on." Jane said quickly straightening up her posture in the seat; they remained silent until the little green light came back on. "Welcome back everyone, me and Sam were just talking about how she survived the crisis. Sam?"

"Yeah, my dad had a bomb shelter he called me at like four in the morning and told me to go and hide in it after I locked all the doors and windows. So I locked everything and grabbed the dog and we went in the basement."

"You had a bomb shelter?" Jane asked with a smile, "lucky you."

"Yeah, they always said my dad was paranoid. Guess he showed them." Sam laughed dryly. "He called me literally every four hours, but in the first day still I got bored out of my mind so I left against his wishes. I had a gun s'not like I left with no way to defend myself. But outside I heard screams at my neighbors. I saw them running got them to come over, and I shot a few of those S.O.B.'s and then we all hid in the basement."

"How long were you down there?"

"Oh, Lord, months, we were all going crazy and we ran out of food at one point and we had to leave which was an adventure all in its own to get some stuff from the kitchen. But we all survived and managed not to kill each other before the military came and got us out." Samantha said.

"You went to the shelter then right?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah and I lived there for about five years, I was there for about five years."

"What did you guys do all day?" Jane asked. "I know without TV for that long I went crazy."

"Well we had a good amount of movies and I had a game console in my room, so I got pretty good at some video games. Um, a lot of books too, we made a library type room and we had a huge collection of books so I've read like every book you can think of."

"What did you guys do for your schooling when you were there? I was already out of school so it's never really applied to me, and therefore I never thought of it." Jane said.

"Well we didn't have an official school, like I never got my high school diploma and I never went to college, I guess technically I only have eighth grade education. But we had a few teachers in the shelter and we had classes two hours a day, two classes a day." She said.

"What were your best and worse subjects in school?"

"I was always good at English, and I always sucked at math. Never understood it never got how that could possibly apply in life, like my dad he was bad at math too."

"And in the book you do mention that, right? If I'm not mistaken..." Jane asked.

"Yes, I do, a couple times he tried to use math to figure some things out and without paper on him he had to do it mentally and he just did horrible. It was a little funny to watch on the tape."

"Back to this book, did you put all the information in it? The good and the bad? I'm sure not all you saw was upbeat yay we're getting out of here soon, right?"

"Oh yeah, a few times he was just terrible and one time he was just drunk, flat out drunk. And who can blame him? I know that since I got out of the basement I've had my fair share of drinks, sorry daddy I know I was underage, I can count." She said looked up momentarily. "But I put it all in, it's a true story and being a true story it has its bad moments."

"That's good; a lot of people took out their not so proud moments when they wrote their books, making them seem more like a hero."

"Exactly," Samantha said. "And the thing is if you do that people will know, they lived through it too, they know what happened, and they know that if you lived without a bad moment that it's a lie."

"What do you think of all the people who wrote books about their experiences?" Jane asked.

"Well... it kinda depends who you are, I mean some people wrote fascinating books and poems about what they went through but I think a lot of people just did it to try and get money, they didn't have their hearts in their writing and just figured that because of what its about it would become a best seller."

"Well unlike them yours actually did become a best seller and it still is if I'm not mistaken. Were you expecting it to be so popular?"

"Oh no, not at all, I mean it's about a divorced gun shop owner. I was sure that more people would have been more interested in the blood and gore and fighting and all the shoot them in the head kind of thing. I guess mines more emotional then gory."

"I suppose people figure they've seen their fair share of gore. Don't really want much more."

"Can't blame them."

"Certainly can't, now I regret to say we've run out of time today, but everyone go out and get a copy of Sam's book, I read it it's wonderful, its exciting, its sad, it's everything a really good read, available in stores everywhere. Thank you for watching and I'll see you next time." Jane gave her famous smile showing off all one thousand white teeth in her mouth and holding up the book. When the little green light went off on the camera Jane's smile became more realistic and she turned to Sam. "Thanks for coming, I'd really like to have you back, talk about other things."

"I'd like to come back." Sam replied. "It was fun."

The two girls stood up from their seats and started walking down the steps and to backstage. "So, do you think you're going to write anymore books?" Jane asked.

"I dunno, maybe, I guess it depends on my inspiration." Sam said giving a short laugh.

"It'd be great; I can tell if this one's this good then your next one will be even better. Where're you headed after this?"

"Book signing," Sam said and Jane gave a sympathetic smile.

"Poor thing," Jane laughed. "If you want me and some of my friends are going out later tonight, join us."

"I'd like that." Samantha smiled, she was so excited that she was going out to eat later with Jane and some of her friends, she could hardly keep her excitement in while she was on the show.

"Great! I'll give you my cell number, meet us at the China Buffet at around six?" She asked as she wrote down her cell phone number on a small piece of paper.

"That's fine."

"Cool, so I'll see you then." Jane said and walked away to her dressing room.

"Yeah," Samantha said and then when Jane was out of sight she jumped in the air clutching the phone number to her chest and giving out a shot squeal.

At that moment a few people walked up to her wearing smiles. "Hey, Sam," said a male voice. She looked up to see Jake, Lauren and Casey, the girl she took in, walking up to her. She had given them all a ticket for the show that day.

"You did great!" Casey said.

"Yeah, and we saw you talking to Jane, what'd she give ya?" Lauren asked curiously.

Samantha showed them the paper. "Her _cell number_ we're going out to eat at six with some of her friends."

"You're going out to eat with Jane and some of her friends!" Lauren exclaimed and the three girls jumped up and down and squealed together. Jake however stood by with an eyebrow raised, he shook his head.

"Women." He said and Samantha gave him a hit on the arm. "Ow." He moaned.

"C'mon, Casey lets head home; hey do you guys think you could watch her tonight when I go out?" Sam asked.

"Sam," complained Casey. "I'm fourteen I can take care of myself."

"We'd be more then happy to watch her; we'll come by at 5:30 or so." Lauren said smiling at the young girl complaining.

"That's great." Samantha smiled as they headed out to their cars.

"Don't worry, Cas, hey maybe we can go out shooting." Jake said giving her a grin.

"Yes!" Casey said pumping her fist, like Samantha and Andy she had adopted a likeness for guns, what being around them constantly and she was also not a bad shooter.

"I see nothing wrong with that." Sam said as she got in the drivers side of the car. "Come on Cas, I'll get you some lunch on the way home."

"Pizza?" Asked the girl.

"Possibly," She answered. "Bye guys," she said and drove away.

"Bye," Jake and Lauren said and he got in the drivers side of his car and she got in the passengers side, he and his sister still lived together, since they were all the other had it was important to them to stay close.

Among the group of friends and among everyone who had survived the disaster that took the lives of four fifths of the word family had become one of the greatest virtues. Those who had no family left resulted in finding family and for some the disaster brought them closer.

* * *

**AN: **That's all folks, sorry but this was never meant to be longer then three chapters. I am really not in the mood to write another one of my long ass stories, I already have one of those in the works. Besides I'm seeing Order of the Phoenix tomorrow and I'm all hyper about that and the next Harry Potter book is coming out in like five days. Yeah that's right I'm a hard core Harry Potter geek, and not one of those yeah I just read the books geeks I can recite the books and I have a freakin wand in my room geek. Hehe, yeah but anyway maybe I'll write more DotD fics who knows what the future holds? Thanks for reading and for the reviews and I maybe I'll be back... I don't know. 


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